Octavia Spencer on Tommy Lee Jones in ‘Lincoln’

SAG Preview: Actors on Actors - Spencer on Jones

How can I applaud Tommy Lee Jones’s breathtaking, awe-inspiring performance in “Lincoln” without feeling like a total sycophant?

Truth is I can’t, because he is just that brilliant. Jones’ deftly crafted Thaddeus Stevens is played without artifice, but is grounded and authentic. Substantive.

Simply put, Jones portrays the man with true grit. But that’s not all. From the moment the character’s introduced onscreen, Jones held my rapt attention. I found myself leaning forward in my seat not wanting to miss a single beat of his impassioned yet hysterical repudiations.

Not to mention the emotional impact of his stoic, mournful gazes. Soul-stirring! Jones’ performance had me laughing out loud, silently weeping and dying to crack open a history book or surf the Internet to learn more.

While I believe that everything about this movie is masterfully executed, from Steven Spielberg’s epic direction to Daniel Day-Lewis’ iconographic Lincoln, I feel Tommy Lee Jones’ performance will engender it’s own luminescence in the hearts of cinephiles everywhere.